Indexing mechanism for permutation-locks.



ERNEST G. ELDBIDGE, 0F ALHAMBRA, CALIFORNIA.

INDEXING MECHANISM FOB PERMUTATION-LOCKS.

Specication at Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1918.

Application led January 20, 1917. Serial No. 143,498.

To aZl 'whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, ERNEST G. ELDRIDGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Alhambra, in thecounty of Los Angeles, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Indexing Mechanism for lermutation-Locks, of which the following is a spcciiication.

This invention relates to devices for indexing permutation locks and the like; and a primary object of this invention is to provide an accurate indexing mechanism in simple form and capable of quick and simple operation. It is also an object of this invention to provide an indexing mechanism which may be attached to any kind of a permutation or combination lock and attached to an kind of exterior plate or escutcheon o such a lock; without any material changes or alterations in the lock itself, or in the exterior plate or escutcheon 'theieof And it is also an object of this invention to provide an indexing mechanism which may be fully and quickly operated by sense of touch and with the use of a single hand. Hei'etofore, indexing mechanisms which have been provided with means for indicating or counting` in larger units than single spaces or single positions, at the will of the operator, have usually required the use of both hands for their manipulation. And it is an object of this invention to provide such an indexinnr mechanism (one operated by sense of touc i) capable of operation by use of a single hand. l

My preferred form of indexing mechanism, according to my invention, is made to -be contained within an indexing' knob, which of course, with a suitable lock, may also serve as a door knob. It will be under Stood, however, that this location of indexing mechanism is not an essential of my invention broadly considered, butis a preferred feature thereof. The essentials of my invention may be said to include a plurality of notched or equivalent members anda coperating means adapted to coperatively engage any of the notched members, but only oneat a time: more specifically, a' plurality of notched or equiva ent meinbers lying transversely alongside each other, being referably circular in formation and lying in 'parallelplanes about a common axis; and a relatively transversely movable or adjustable member adapted to coperate with any one of the notched circular inembers, but only to coperate with one of said members at any one time. The relatively transversely movable member may be moved to coperate with any one of the circular members; and' relative rotation (that is, relative as between the circular notched members and the transversely movable member) will cause the cooperating members to indicate the amount of rotation in terms of the spacings of the notches in the circular member then being in coperaton with the other member. These circular notched members may be in the form of disks, or, as in my preferred construction, are in the form of rings with the notches on their inner peripheries. These notched rings, in my preferred, construction, are mounted onthe inside of a hollow knob; and the coperating relatively transversely movable member is mounted upon a sta.- tionary part which is preferably mounted upon the front plate or escutcheon of the lock. How the whole arrangement can be easily mounted upon any ordinary front plate or escutcheon will be easily understood from the following specification, wherein I explain such features, and also explain the preferred details of construction and operation of my s ecific preferred form of mechanism embo ying my invention.

For the'purpose of this specification, I have illustrated a preferred form of mechanism in the accompanying drawings, 1n which Fio'ur'e 1 is a lon itudinal section of my 90 improvedJ mechanism in its preferred form;' Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In the drawin the numeral 10 designates a usual square 'lclnoperating shaft which extends into a permutation or combination lock and connects with the tumblers thereof for the purpose of rotating them, etc. The particular construction of such a' permuta.- tion lock is of no consequence whatever in my present invention, because my indexing mechanism is applicable to any kind of lock whose operation depends upon the measured rotation of such al shaft as shown at 10. In 10i most locks a squared shaft is used, such as illustrated. The outer end of this squared shaft 10 I preferably screw thread, as

rotate therewith.

tending on through the plate provided with a `nut 33 on its rear end.y

shown at 11, and screw this screw threaded endof the shaft into an internally threaded sleeve 12 which carries the hollow knob 13, The shaft 10 may be adjusted as to longitudinal position in the sleeve 12 by screwing it back and forth in the sleeve; andthe shaft and sleeve may also be set in any relative rotational position by rotating the knob 13 and the sleeve 12 on the shaft 10 and then screwing the expansion screw 14 tightly into the position in the end of the shaft; the end of the shaft being split as shown at 15 to allow its expansion when tapered screw 14 is screwed home. Expansion ofthe end of the split shaft will lock the split shaft and sleeve 12' together in any desired relative position.

The knob 13 may preferably be formed in the configuration shown, with a front web or flange 20, carrying a rearwardly extending rim 21. The interior surface 22 of this rim is preferably accurately machined so as to receive the indexing rings 23,l

24 and 25. These indexing rings are preferably made as separate pleces and may be forced into the rim 21, or otherwise set in the knob;v so that, to all intents and` purposes, they become a part of the knob and possible to make these indexing rings integrally with the knob itself, I prefer to make them separately as they can thus be made of a hard and durable material, while the knob may be made of a material which may. or may not, have such qualities. These indexing rings 23, 24 and 25 lie`alongside each other in a co-axial arrangement; and their inner peripheries are provided with notches. For instance, the indexing rin 23 may have fifty internal notches 26; inc exing ring 24 may have ten internal notches 261; and indexing ring 25 may have one internal notch 26". Y

The knob sleeve 12 is rotatably mounted in a stationary bearing sleeve 30. r[his stationary bearing sleeve `may be mounted upon the, front plate or escutcheon 31 of the lock in any desired manner; but a simple and effective manner is to provide the bearing sleeve 30 with a base flange 32 which bears against the face of the plate 31, the sleeve ex- 31 and being With this kind of mounting, it will be seen that it is only necessary, in any front plate or escutcheon of any character, to have an opening through which the bearing sleeve 30 may bepassedg Saidopcning may be,- and is in effect, merely an enlargement of the opening through which the shaft 10 passes in any l usual lock construction; so it will be seen that my indexing attachment,' in itsA preferred form, may be very easily attached to any kind of a front plate or escutcheon without any material modification therein. This Although it is of course is an important feature flowing from the fact that the mechanism is all contained in the knob-contained in a part exterior of the lock and only needing the simple connection to the lock or front plate.

This bearing sleeve 30 carries a disk or circular` flange 35 which closes the back end of the hollow knob 13. The sleeve 30 extends on into the hollow knob forward of the or near, the inner peripheries of t-he index-` ing rings 23, 24 and 25. This block 41 has a longitudinal bore 42, carrying two balls 43 and 44 with a spring 45 between them, pushing the balls outwardly; pushing the ball 43 into engagement with the indexing notches 26, 26, or 26", and pushing the ball 44 into engagement with notches 46 in the flat surface 40. The block 41 is mounted upon a shank 50 which passes through and is journaled in the flange 35, and carries a member 51 on its outer end which may be engaged by the thumb or thumb and finger. to move the shank 50 and block 41 back and forth to and between its several positions. In the form of device herein illustrated, there are' enotches in any one of the rings; but it will be seen that ball 43- will thus engage the notches of only one rin at a time. 1t is a distinctive feature of t is invention that I provide a single means for engaging with the notches of the indexing rings, and provide means for moving said single member from one position to anotherto coperatewith one or another of the rings; such provision being made that only one indexing ringimay be engaged at one time. This obviates entirely the liability of error due to the fact that more than one indexing ring might be enga ed at one time. Thus, the combination o several indexing rings, or other similar members, with their notches or the like, and the means for cooperating with 'the indexing rings, said means being relatively movable so as to engage either only one or another of the indexing rings, is a distinctive feature of m invention. And this distinctive feature o my invention is not necessarilyaccornpanied by the particular and specific details of the preferred' form shown herein. Butiit is also a feature of my invention that I mount an indexing mechanism Within the structure of a knob,

mainly for the reason that such a structure forms a complete and self-contained unitA which' may be easily adapted or attached to any existing type of permutation lock; and

I do prefer to make the specific combination herein shown, of the kind of indexirnr mechanism herein described mountedwvltIun the knob structure. In any case, whether the mechanism `is contained Within afknob or not, it is operatable with the use of one hand y necessary for one `hand to beused to hold the member 51 in any one position While the knob is manipulated with the other hand.

i The memberl may be moved to any one of its various positions, and then thesame hand maybe used to manipulate the knob, then the member 51 may be moved again, and

then theknob manipulated again, and so on,

until the complete manipulation is tinished. For instance, say that it is desired, `as a part of a complete manipulation, to` turn the mechanism from zero position around tothe right to position thirty eight. The zero position is ascertained by engagementof ball 43 in the single notch 26", which notch is set in correct position relative to the mechanism of the lock by adjusting the sleeve 12 on the shaft 10.' The zero position having been ascertained, then the block 41 is moved over to such position that the ball 43 Will engage in a notch 2Ga of rin 24; the" rings 23 and 24 being so set that t 1e notch 2Gb comes opposite a notch 26"* Then the knob is turned until seven engagements `of ball` 43 with notches 26` have occurred. This brings the mechanism to position thirty-live (there being a notch 26 opposite every fifth notch 26 in ring 23). Then the block 41 is moved to' position to engage ball 43 .in the notch 26 which then stands opposite, and the knob" is turned through three more notch engagements, reaching position thirty-eight. n ll this may be done with a single hand, as hereinbefore explained. a

Having described a my invention, I claim: a

1. Indexing mechanism, embodying a plurality of. indexing members movable together preferred form of and having indexing notches at different` spacings on the several members, and a single coperating indexing member adapted to coperate with any one of the movable members.

2. Indexing mechanism, embodying a plu` rality of indexing members movable. together and having indexing notches at different `sp'acings onthe several members, a single coperating indexing member adapted to coperate with any one of the movable members to indicate relative `movement thereof by sense :of touch, and means to hold said cooperating member in position to coperate with `any one of `the movable members when once by manual action. l i

3. Indexing mechanism,y embodying a plu.-

placed in such position.

rality of rotatable notched indexing members movable together and having-indexing notches at diiferent-spacingsyon `the several i members, and a single cooperating' movable indexing memberadapted to coperate with any oneof the rotatable members.

. Indexing mechanism, embodyirig a plurallty of notched circular members lying side byl side, being at different spacings on the several members, a single coperating indexing member adapted to coperate with the several notched members, means to cause rotation of all the notched members relative to the coperating member, and means to cause lateral adjustment of the coperating member to coperate with notched members.

5. Indexln g mechanism,

any one of the embodying a plurality of co-axlal rotatable notched disks lying side by side, said disks being rotatable together and having their notches atdiiferent spacings in the several" disks, and a single transversely movable coperating indexing member adapted .to coperate with any ,onel of the notched disks.

6. Indexing mechanism, embodying a plurality of co-axial rotatable notched disks lying side by side, said disks being rotatable together and having their notches at different spacings in the several disks, a single transversely movable coperating indexing member adapted to coperate with any one y of the notched disks, and means to hold said transversely movable member in position to coperate With any one of the disks.

7. Indexing mechanism embodying a plurality of cosaxial rotatable notched disks lying side by side, a stationary surface having a line of notches therein with one notch in the plane of each of the disks, a transversely movable block between the stationary surface and the disks, and oppositely pressed` balls carried by the block one to engage said surface notches and the other to `engage the p disk notches. a

` 8. Indexing mechanism, embodying a hollow rotatable knob, a plurality of indexing disks carried in said knob, sure for one side'of the knob, and indexing means carried on said closure to selectively coperatively engage with either of the indexing disks. a p r 9. Indexing mechanism, embodying a hollow rotatable knob carrying circumferentially arranged indexing a stationary clonotches in its in-4 the notches in said members terior, a stationary closure for one side of sleeve and acting as a closurefor the back the knob, and indexin,,v meansy carried 1bA said closure to coperatively engage wit the indexing notches.

l10. Indexing mechanism, embodying a. stationary bearing sleeve. a knob sleeve joui-, naled therein,- sleeve and having interior indexing notches, and indexing means carried by the stationary bearing sleeve to coperate with the indexingnotches. i

11. Indexing mechanism, embodying a stationary bearing sleeve, a knob sleeve journaled therein, a hollow knob on the knob sleeve, a plurality of indexing rings inthe..

hollow knob, said rings being peripherally notched; a flange carried bythe bearing side of the knob, and movable means carried by the flange adapted to engage the notches of any one of the indexing rings.

12. Indexing mechanism, embodying a stationary bearing sleeve, a knob sleeve journaled therein, a hollow 1knob on the knob sleeve, a plurality of indexing rings in the hollow knob, said rings being perpherally notched; a flange carried by the bearing sleeve and acting as a closure for the back side of the knob, a single movable means carried by the flange and adapted to engage the notches of any one of the indexing rings, and means to detain the said movable means in position to engage` the notches 'of any single one of the indexing rings.

13. Indexing mechanism, embodying a stationary bearing sleeve adapted to be mounted upon a lock plate or the like, a knob sleeve journaled therein, a hollow knob on the knob sleeve, a plurality of indexing rings a hollowI knob on the. knob plurality of co-axial notched disks rotatable l together,y one of `said disks being notched in regular spacings, and the others being notched in spaclngs which `are multiples of the spacings o'n the first mentioned disl andV a single coperating indexing member inovableto coperate with any one of the disks.

15. Indexing mechanism, embodying a hollow rotatable knob, a plurality ,of coaxial notched disks fixed'therein and rotatable together therewith, one of said disks being notched in re ular spacings, and the others being notched in spacings which are multiples of the spacings on the first mentioned disk, a stationarymember on which the knob is mounted, and a single coperating indexing member mounted on said` member 'and movable to cooperate with any one of the" disks. t

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 13th day of January, 1917.

ERNEST G. ELDRIDGE.

itnesses: t

JAMES T. Banni-mm,

' ELwoon H. BARKELEW. 

